Revenant

“You’re not fine. I can see your ribs. Your actual ribs.”

A wash of nausea made Revenant sway as he sat there, holding his hand over the wound. “I said no.”

“Stubborn jackass,” Reaver muttered. He jammed his hands through his hair and stared at the ruined ground. “What set you off?” When Revenant said nothing, mainly because pain had locked his jaw in place, Reaver expelled a raw curse. “Tell me what happened, Revenant. Tell me what happened to our mother.”

Fuck that. No way was he telling anyone that he was the reason their mother had suffered so horribly. Yes, Reaver now knew that she’d remained behind intentionally, but he didn’t need to know that every stitch of pain she’d experienced could be laid at Rev’s doorstep.

“I can’t.”

Reaver’s voice hardened. “Can’t, or won’t.”

“Does it matter?” Agony throbbed through his torso, and he sucked in a rattling breath. He needed to get to his place. Hole up. Lick his wounds.

“Dammit,” Reaver growled. “You need a doctor.”

Doctor. Why yes, yes he did need a doctor. One in particular. “You’re right,” he said. “Guess that’s what big brothers are for.”

With that, he gathered his last remaining bit of strength and flashed himself out of there.

Eleven

Someone was following her.

Blaspheme wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she was certain that someone was tracking her movements. Almost since the moment she left the clinic, a hinky feeling had latched on like a leech, keeping her looking over her shoulder and jumping at every loud noise.

And London had a lot of loud noises.

As she boarded a bus, she cursed her stupidity at renting a flat so far away from a Harrowgate. The walk will be nice, she’d told herself. On rainy days, I can take the bus, she’d said to her mom.

Great plan, except when there was an emergency, such as some homicidal maniac – or an angel – possibly following her.

She’d tried a repeat of the invisibility thing, but this time she couldn’t fully vanish even for a minute. Some of her body parts were as visible as usual, while others were completely indiscernible, and others transparent, like a ghost.

Her False Angel aura was wearing down, and it might only be a matter of days before angels and fallen angels could detect the truth about her origins.

It was time to ask Eidolon for help.

She dug through her purse for her phone and made a quick call to check on her mother, and after Gem reassured her that everything was fine, she left a message with Eidolon’s answering service. She needed to meet with him as soon as possible. She used the excuse that she had Gethel’s test results, which she hadn’t been able to share with him earlier. He’d been stuck in surgery all day with multiple victims of a Nightlash massacre, and she had a feeling he’d be pulling an all-nighter with that one.

The bus curbed it at her stop, and she made a speedy dash to her flat a couple of blocks away. The sensation of being spied on had gone, but the icky, oily sensation of having been watched left her feeling like she needed a shower.

Which meant that her mystery spy wasn’t Revenant. If he were observing her, the shower she’d need would be an icy-cold one.

As she entered her place, she didn’t think she’d ever been so exhausted. She dumped her bag on the floor of her flat and negotiated the maze of moving boxes on her way to the kitchen, wondering if she had the energy to make a sandwich. Turned out, she had the energy but not the ingredients.

She hadn’t been shopping in days, and pretty much everything in her fridge had gone bad.

Cursing her stupidity at not picking up something from the market down the street, she grabbed a cold beer and scrounged through her cabinets for microwave popcorn to munch on while she relaxed in front of the TV with her favorite show. It was Doctor Who night, and tonight’s new episode was supposed to be a game-changer.

Her phone rang, and she was tempted to let the machine get it, until Eidolon’s number popped up on the caller ID.

“Doc E,” she said. “Hello.”

“I’m sorry I missed your call.” His deep voice rumbled over the phone line. “I got the copy of Gethel’s lab results you left on my desk. But I had a question about the other item you left.”

“The tracking device.” Her hand shook as she took a long pull on the beer bottle. “Dr. Soduchi found it inside my mother.”

“How did you know what it was?”

“Revenant told me.”

“He was here?” he barked. “Again? You were supposed to call me.”

She winced. “I didn’t want to bother you unless he requested my participation in another house call in hell. Besides, you were busy.”

“I’m still busy. I fucking hate Nightlash demons.” She heard him take a sip of something she assumed was coffee. “I’m going to research this device. I’ll have Wraith do some snooping as well.”

Eidolon’s brother Wraith had an uncanny knack for locating things no one else could. When his vampire mate, Serena, was with him, there was practically nothing they couldn’t find.

“Blas,” E said slowly, “is there any reason you can think of why your mother would be tagged with a tracking device?”

Even though she’d decided she needed Eidolon’s help, she stood there for a long time, weighing her options and considering how much, if anything, she should tell him. Ultimately, the undeniable truth of her situation became clear. She was in trouble, and if there was anyone in the world she could trust, it was the demon on the other end of the line.